Sergeant Greene’s Gun at Fort Roosevelt.
The quartermaster furnished the transportation and two barrels of oil were duly forwarded to the front and placed in charge of brigade quartermasters at different points, with orders to distribute out one quart to each company. This oil, perhaps, had some bearing upon the condition of the rifles in the fight following.
On the 27th of June, Captain Marcotte and the detachment commander made a reconnaissance of a high hill to the left of Camp Wheeler, and, having gained the top, reconnoitered the city of Santiago and its surrounding defenses with a powerful glass, and as a result reported to Gen. Wheeler that the key of Santiago was the Morro mesa, a promontory or tableland overlooking the city on the east side at a distance of about a mile and a half and not at that time occupied by the enemy, with the proposition that a detail of a half-dozen men from the detachment should make a rush and capture this plateau, and hold it until the guns could be brought up. The general could not authorize the proposed undertaking, as it would have endangered the safety of his army, perhaps by leading to a premature engagement. By the time a sufficient reconnaissance had been made and convinced everybody of the value of this plan, the mesa had been strongly occupied by the enemy. It is still believed that the occupation of this height was practicable on the 27th of June, and thought, if it had been authorized, the Gatlings could have occupied and held this position against all the Spaniards in the city of Santiago. A glance at the map will show the extreme tactical importance of this position.
CHAPTER VII.
THE BATTLE.
On the 30th day of June, General Shafter pitched his camp about half a mile in advance of Camp Wheeler in a valley, and about five o’clock in the afternoon communicated the plan of battle to the division commanders and to the commander of the Gatling Gun Detachment.
Reconnaissance had developed the fact that the enemy occupied the village of El Caney, and that their first line of works surrounded the city of Santiago at a distance of about a mile, crowning a semicircular ridge. Between the position occupied by the general’s camp and this ridge, a distance of about two and one-half miles, flowed the Aguadores and San Juan rivers, and about one mile from the San Juan River, on the east side, was a ruined plantation and mission house, called El Poso. Midway between El Caney and the Spanish position was a large handsome mansion, called the Du Cuorot house, standing in the midst of a large plantation and owned by a Frenchman, which both sides had agreed to respect as neutral property. The general plan of the battle as given to these officers on the 30th of June was for one division of the army (Lawton’s), assisted by one battery of artillery (Capron’s), to make an attack at daybreak upon the village of El Caney, and drive the enemy out of it. Another division (Kent’s) was to make an attack upon the semicircular ridge of hills south of El Caney as soon as Lawton was well committed to the fight, both for the purpose of preventing reinforcements from going to El Caney and to develop the enemy’s strength. It was expected that Lawton would capture El Caney about eight or nine o’clock in the morning, and pursue the retreating enemy, by the way of the Du Cuorot house, toward Santiago. This movement would cause Lawton to execute, roughly, a left wheel, and it was intended that in executing this maneuver Kent’s right should join, or nearly join, Lawton’s left, after which the whole line was to move forward according to the developments of the fight. Kent’s attack was to be supported by Grimes’ Battery from El Poso. The Gatling Gun Detachment was to move at daylight on the morning of July 1st, take position at El Poso sheltered by the hill, in support of Grimes’ Battery, and there await orders.
